


"the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room"

by r1ptides



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23694169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/r1ptides/pseuds/r1ptides
Summary: “all I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room”
Comments: 16
Kudos: 128





	"the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room"

_“all I could think of was that the teachers must've_ _found_ _the illegal stash of_ _candy_ _I'd been_ _selling out of my dorm_ _room”_

Yancy Academy, middle school once again for Grover. Hopefully he’d just get the half-blood to Camp at some point in the school year, whoever it was.

Entering the building, Grover could pick up the strong scent immediately. Gods bless, his job had gotten much easier because the scent was strongest in his dorm room. The kid he had to protect was coincidentally his roommate. Grover wondered if Chiron had pulled any strings.

 _Perseus_ Jackson, the guy’s name was, according to the whiteboard on their door. If this guy’s mortal parent was a stranger to Greek mythology, Grover was a centaur (he was not).

The kid seemed normal. A dark mess of unruly hair, a Meditterranean complexion. His eyes were a bright green, the kind you can’t mistake for hazel or blue. His face was angular and defined, like the statues of ancient Greece. He looked like he’d fit right in an Olympian family photo.

He immediately said he went by _Percy,_ which Grover was thankful for. Calling this kid a name that belonged to a son of Zeus… Grover didn’t have great memories with Zeus kids.

The second week of school, he entered the classroom to see Percy sitting at a desk with a box of Ziploc bags next to him. He seemed to be measuring something, then filling bags.

Grover’s first thought was his roommate/half-blood was a 12 year old delinquent filling dime bags to sell to fellow delinquents, but with a closer look, he saw that it was candy. On the ground were two huge bags of just candy of all kinds. One was entirely blue and the other was every other color.

Upon noticing him, Percy kicked the huge bags under the desk and covered the small ones with his arms, leaning over, trying to be casual. “Hey, uh, what’s up?”

Grover put his twenty pound backpack (oh, the things he did for Camp) down, and shrugged. “Not much, the question is what’s up with you?”

Percy grinned, a sideways smirk that the Hermes Cabin often wore, like he was going to drop a firecracker down someone’s shirt or something just as troublesome. “Promise you won’t snitch?”

Carefully, Grover nodded.

Percy uncovered his work. “My mom works at a candy shop, a place at Grand Central. She gives me huge sample bags from work normally, but now that I’m here I guess she’ll send them. I can only eat so much candy before it gets all hard and gross, but no one else ever minds. So I sell whatever’s left over.”

“Wow that’s… actually really smart,” Grover said.

“From what I’ve seen Yancy is a bunch of rich assholes- wait, sorry, are you rich?”

Grover wanted to laugh at the question. As a satyr, the only money he’d ever seen was from “Delphi Strawberry Service”. Technically, his job as a protector was unpaid, and he lived for free at Camp Half-Blood. “Nope,” he said.

Percy’s eyes narrowed, inspecting his face for any sign of a lie. “Me neither, anyway I set my prices based on where I am. Schools back in the city, the price is normal. But here, it’s the jackpot. Everyone here has an allowance of like, $200 a week from their parents. So if I set it at $7 a little bag, I’m good. If some kid’s smart enough to argue, I’ll drop it a little, and I’m still doing good. What else are they gonna do? The candy at the school store is nowhere near as good, it’s all offbrand.” Percy seemed pleased with himself as he packed more bags, making them equally blue candy and equally non-blue candy.

Grover whistled. “You really have this figured out. A budding entrepreneur.”

Percy finished the last Ziploc of the box and laid back on his bed. “That’s the dream.”

Grover sat on his own bed. “What do you do with the money?”

“If I was home, I’d just sneak it in my mom’s wallet. But now that I’m here, that’s tough. I could wait ‘till I go home for Thanksgiving, but my step-dad would end up stealing most of it. So I’ll just spend it on stuff I want or really need, then I can tell my mom I don’t need as much money as I do for stuff.”

Grover’s face softened. This week he’d been getting to know Percy. He knew he wanted to skateboard, but didn’t have one. He knew he liked blue. He knew he lived in Manhattan. But in this moment, he felt like he really knew the kid. The way he talked about his mom was so real, like he was truly opening up about something. 

“That’s really nice,” Grover said genuinely. In the classes they had together, Percy struggled with schoolwork, which was expected because of his ADHD and dyslexia (which Percy had yet to tell him, but Grover knew), but the kid was really smart. He didn’t give himself enough credit. “Where’d the idea come from?”

“Dunno, just figured it’s a way to get some extra money. Normally I do jobs during the summer, or even try to during the school year, but now that I’m away this is all I can do. Maybe entrepreneurship is in my blood, my mom says my dad was rich and important or something- too important to stay, I guess.” Percy shrugged, as if he didn’t care, but Grover saw his expression change. It was less sad, and more like brewing anger. “Anyways, maybe I’ll be some rich business guy someday. I can get my mom a nice big house, hire a hit on my step-dad, and buy a bunch of skateboards. And you can be my accomplice slash business partner, Grover.”

Grover felt a smile tug at his mouth. “That sounds pretty good.”

“What’ll you do with your money?”

Grover pondered the question. “I’ll probably help environmental protection agencies, maybe run one,” he decided.

Percy nodded. “I can see that for you. Welcome to my candy business.”

Somehow, Percy made well over $100 the next couple days. He began to start selling to the eighth graders, who didn’t even mind a puny sixth grader threatening to _up his prices_ if they kept arguing he was overcharging. 

He tried to give Grover half the profits, but Grover argued he barely did anything except help Percy make a few bags. Grover said he didn’t need money anyways, he found it to have no value. Begrudgingly, Percy kept the money.

Everyone was going home for Thanksgiving, and Grover told Percy he’d see him in a week. Even if it was just a job, Grover decided he really liked Percy Jackson. Hopefully this time, he’d be a good enough protector.

  
  
  



End file.
